What happens to my pension if I change jobs?

If you are currently enrolled in a pension scheme but are soon to be changing employer, your new provider should also offer a workplace pension and depending on your former employer’s scheme then you may be able to transfer your accumulated fund to your new employer’s pension scheme.

Any personal pension can be made “paid-up” which means that the fund is still invested and growing with investment returns but no further contributions are being made. Again, Personal pensions are very flexible and so you could continue to contribute at a lower level or you could transfer the accumulated fund to your employer’s scheme.

It is fundamentally important that you take independent financial advice before taking any particular course of action. Making a mistake could have a catastrophic impact on your retirement.

And what if my circumstances change?

Personal pensions are very flexible and so you can stop and start, reduce and increase pension contributions with changing circumstances such as maternity leave or caring for a family member.

However, this will have an impact on the eventual size of your pension fund.